Tesis sobre el tema "Social sciences -> anthropology -> archaeology"

Social and economic factors were involved in intensified sheep rearing that occurred in southeastern Poland during the middle late Neolithic, 3800-3700 BC. Sheep data from three settlement sites, Bronocice, Zawar¿a, and Nied¿wied¿, were used to document the importation and crossbreeding of animals within this region over this span of time. Portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used to measure elemental strontium concentrations in sheep dental enamel. Distinct patterning was documented for each site and phase of occupation. The earliest phases showed little variation in strontium concentrations whereas beginning with Phase 3 (3650 BC) great variation was apparent. Based on these data it was possible to distinguish local from non-local sheep. At Bronocice a major change in sheep rearing occurred. Large scale sheep importation began around 3650 BC which lasted through the end of the settlement in 2700 BC. On the other hand, small settlements like Zawar¿a, and Nied¿wied¿ continued to raise sheep in the region, occasionally acquiring new stock from the sheep market at Bronocice. It does not appear that sheep were raised at Bronocice. Instead it is more likely that Bronocice was interested in the wool and thread produced by small herders for weaving.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced from sheep at the three sites dating to the period 3650-3100 BC (Phases 3 and 4) at the three sites. That study revealed that close genetic relationships existed among sheep from the three settlements. The sheep from the outlying villages of Zawar¿a and Nied¿wied¿ were more closely related to sheep from Bronocice than sheep at Bronocice were to each other. It is evident that sheep from outlying villages were descended from sheep imported to Bronocice. Six lineages were identified, two of which were found in sheep from Phases 3 and 4. Individuals from `Family 1' were found only at Bronocice while those from Family 2 were present at all sites indicating that two common sources of sheep were exploited over a few hundred years.

This long term pattern confirms the existence of important social relationships between some groups and elites at Bronocice with outside communities, probably located in southeastern Europe. These data served as proxies for examining social relationships within and between settlements in the region as well as to investigate economic behaviors involving trade and exchange of sheep. Multiple levels of socioeconomic activities were revealed based on the XRF data revolving around the importation of sheep to Bronocice, the redistribution of sheep to smaller settlements, the staging of annual sheep market in late spring and the likely production of textiles for export. It is probably that people from the three communities shared social ties which extended beyond a shared cultural identity and included family and business partnerships. An annual cycle is proposed involving four distinct social categories: elites at Bronocice responsible for managing the annual sheep market, long distance traders importing sheep once a year, local sheep herders who acquired new stock from the traders and who harvested and spun wool for exchange, and weavers who required raw materials for making cloth. It is possible that weavers, whose cloth production depended on access to wool and thread, controlled or were involved with the importation and redistribution sheep to local herders and that they in turn exchanged wool and or thread. At Bronocice it is likely that control over sheep imports was managed by a small number of individuals, most likely elites. Evidence of a social hierarchy is evidenced by a large animal enclosure, fortification ditches and palisades, the construction of which reveals control over labor. The nature of trading relationships is unknown but may have been based on ancient ties dating to the early part of the Neolithic. Sheep intensification coincided not only with the growth of Bronocice in size, population, and appearance of specialists within the community, but also with an increase in fiber and textile production artifacts, most likely due to the start of wool production. At Bronocice, incipient wool production was suggested not only by signs of intensified sheep rearing but also by the recovery of large quantities of loom weights, spools and spindle whorls from houses, the numbers of which increased dating to different phases. The percentage of households within the settlement involved in fiber and textile production grew over time. Sheep intensification therefore appears to be strongly linked to the development of a wool industry. The identification of mobility patterns and sheep genetic relatedness afforded the opportunity to investigate animal husbandry practices, specifically breeding and the exchange of livestock, as well as to consider possible forms of social interaction between communities. Last, the scale and regularity at which sheep were imported to Bronocice over a period of 900 years suggest that a simple model of reciprocal trade between elites does not work for the later Neolithic. Instead, a more complex system is proposed in which sheep were an important trade commodity. They were imported on a regular schedule and in large numbers by specialized pastoralists. The data suggest they were imported during the late spring on an annual basis into Bronocice which strongly suggests the existence of a market system controlled by elites involving the acquisition of new sheep. Furthermore, it appears that sheep were redistributed sheep to outside settlements who managed the herds and that these communities were the primary suppliers of wool and spun fibers to weavers at Bronocice. There had to have existed codependent relationships between weaving households and local sheep herders which may have involved redistribution of sheep in exchange for wool products.

The spatial patterning of artifacts and features excavated from Tule Creek Village (CA-SNI-25), San Nicolas Island, CA provides an opportunity to analyze the intra-site correlations between artifact types, materials, and features, and allows for inferences to be made regarding the context and use of space at a late Holocene village. Excavations at East Locus at CA-SNI-25 have yielded evidence of trade with other islands as well as evidence suggesting complex ceremonial activity, such as dog and bird burials, large hearths, stacked stone features, and multiple pits which vary in size, shape and depositional content. The artifact assemblage, favorable geographic setting, and inferred ceremonial activity observed at East Locus in comparison to other late Holocene sites on San Nicolas suggest that CA-SNI-25 served as the primary center for social and economic interactions on the island during a time when the intensification of complex spheres of interaction are observed throughout the southern California Bight.

I use intra-site GIS and exploratory methods, such as spatial autocorrelation and hot-spot analysis to isolate distributions of formal artifacts and features and examine the organization of space in both ceremonial and utilitarian contexts. This provides a visual and interactive platform conducive to analyzing the abundant data collected during open area excavations at CA-SNI-25. The statistical analysis allows for inferences to be made regarding the manufacture and use of artifact types and toolkits in ceremonial and utilitarian contexts, as well as the import and use of exotic materials. Ultimately, spatial analysis using intra-site GIS reveals possible linkages of artifacts and features, as well as patterns of spatial and temporal variability in technology, subsistence, and behavior at a village on San Nicolas just prior to European contact.

Because of the lack of provenance or accompanying text, the depictions of anthropomorphized animals on ancient Egyptian New Kingdom ostraca and papyri have long puzzled Egyptologists. Attempts to understand the ostraca usually focus on the role reversals where predatory animals serve their natural prey, which is evident in some of the motifs. Some scholars have suggested that these images are satirical and served as an outlet for mocking elite society. However, their social and cultural context, which has not been thoroughly explored until this dissertation, shows that it is unlikely that the images were considered to be negatively charged social satire. Rather, it is more likely that they were envisioned as humorous parodies of primarily elite imagery that were produced by individuals who considered themselves to be elite as well. "Anthropomorphized Animal Imagery on New Kingdom Ostraca and Papyri: Their Artistic and Social Significance" is also the first time the vignettes are given a full art historical treatment in which the formal qualities of the drawings are studied and evaluated. As a result, this dissertation addresses the aesthetic value of these drawings in ancient Egypt, which will be of interest to the discipline of art history on more general terms as well. Another section of this dissertation discusses the narrative potential of the papyri and ostraca on which these anthropomorphized images are drawn. Though the narrative qualities of these images have been discussed before, this dissertation addresses the broader concerns of visual narrative construction in ancient Egyptian art, which has thus far been given little scholarly attention. The figured ostraca and papyri on which these anthropomorphized animals are drawn show that visual narrative construction in ancient Egypt is not necessarily linear and sequential, but can also embody fluid, and more open-ended narrative constructions that is evident in not only the decorative programs of elite tombs, but in written ancient Egyptian literature as well.

How do we, as humans and as scientists, learn about the world around us? In this dissertation, I explore how models--epistemological tools that connect theory and reality--not only structure scientific inquiry (including the social sciences), but also reflect how humans experience and understand the world. Using this insight enables anthropologists and other social scientists to build more ontologically powerful understandings of human behavior. Here, I focus on how humans experience physical and social landscapes--the environments in which they live and with which they interact. The dissertation consists of three studies, each of which build on the previous by adding to the complexity of modeled landscapes. The first concerns static landscapes--those that are unchanging over the temporal timescales relevant to human experience. I develop a topographically-derived index of defensibility and use it to infer defensive behavior among prehistoric populations in the Northwest Coast of North America. The second paper introduces dynamic landscapes--those that change at scales experienced by humans, but whose changes are primarily driven by external forces. An example relevant to agrarian societies is climate change. I develop a new method for reconstructing past climate landscapes and explore the potential impacts of those changes on Ancestral Pueblo maize farmers in the southwestern United States over the past two millennia. Finally, the third paper grapples with complex landscapes--dynamic landscapes in which human behaviors play important and recursive causal roles. I highlight the coevolution of locally-adapted maize varieties and human selection and cultivation strategies as an example of these types of landscapes, and develop frameworks for modeling maize paleoproductivity that can better honor the realities of Pueblo agricultural strategies.

This dissertation uses a relational approach and a contentious politics framework to examine the archaeological record. Methodologically, it merges spatial and social network analyses to promote a geosocial archaeology. Combined, the articles create a counter-narrative that highlights how environmentally focused investigations fail to explain how and why societies in the Southwest often reorganize horizontally. The first article uses geosocial networks, which I argue represent memory maps, to reveal that the socially important, and sophisticated, act of forgetting was employed by people in the Gallina region during A.D. 1100–1300. A concomitant community level, settlement pattern analysis demonstrates similarities between the arrangement of Gallina and Basketmaker-era settlements. These historically situated settlement structures, combined with acts of forgetting, were used by Gallina region residents to institute and maintain a horizontally organized social movement that was likely aimed at rejecting the hierarchical social atmosphere in the Four Corners region. The second article proposes that as ideologically charged material goods are consumed, fissures within past ideological landscapes are revealed and that these fissures can demonstrate acts of resistance in the archaeological past. It also contends that social and environmental variables need to be combined for these conflicting religious and political practices to be correctly interpreted. The third article applies many of the ideas outlined in the second article to a case study in the Greater Southwest during A.D. 1200–1450. Fractures in the ideological landscape demonstrate that the Salado Phenomenon was a religious social movement formed around, and successful because of, its populist nature. Based on variations in how the Salado ideology interacted with contemporaneous hierarchical and non-hierarchical religious and political organizations it is probable that the Salado social movement formed around desires for the open access to religious knowledge.

Through the artifacts from the Jackson Appleton Middlesex Urban Revitalization and Devolvement Project (hereafter JAM) located in Lowell, MA, this research explores social class in nineteenth-century boardinghouses. This thesis is a two-part study. First, through statistical analysis, research recovers interpretable data from urban archaeological contexts subject to disturbance. Pinpointing intra-site similarities between artifacts recovered from intact and disturbed contexts, data show that artifacts recovered from disturbed and intact contexts in urban environments are not as dissimilar as previously believed. In the second phase using both intact and disturbed JAM contexts, the analysis of four boardinghouse features highlights two distinct patterns of ceramic assemblages suggesting 1) that the JAM site includes artifacts associated with Lowell's early boardinghouse period (1820-1860) in contrast to other late nineteenth century collections from Lowell like the Boott Mills and 2) that material goods amongst upper class mangers versus working class operative were more similar at Lowell's outset. Synthesizing this data with previous archaeology in Lowell, this research shows that over the course of the nineteenth century changes in the practice of corporate paternalism can be seen in the ceramic record. Furthermore, the data suggest that participation in the planned industrial project was a binding element of community interactions, blurring the lines of social class for Lowell's inhabitants in the early years of the Lowell experiment.